Fred Judson Hoagland written by Grandson Frank H. Bosworth – 1985: 

I became first truly aware of my grandfather as a real person, when he was able to spend time with me after our 1947 Kankakee, Illinois auto accident.  I’ll always remember his looking to be about 7 feet tall at my hospital bedside, standing net to my Uncle Bob Mogler.  He lit a cigar and offered one to me before he thought of my age (14), looked piercingly at me, and asked if I smoked.  I stated that I did not and his penetrating eyes that were kindly but seemed to see through me, he chuckled and smiled and said, “You’d better not!”  He really loved my mom, my brother, and me.  He later came to the Gulf Coast, Biloxi, to see us with his dogs “Taxi” and “Chevy”-a matching pair of beautiful boxers.

When Frederick Judson “Fred” HOAGLAND was born on June 12, 1880, in Elgin, Kane County, Illinois, his father, Samuel, was 24 and his mother, Maria, was 25.

Fred was a resident of Elgin, Illinois, all his life.

Fred attended George P. Lord Grade School & went to high school.

He married Mabel Gladys Hawley on June 9, 1906, at the First Methodist Church in Elgin, Illinois and they had six children together:

Helen Marie Hoagland 1907-1965
Richard Samuel Hoagland 1909-1952
Charles Frederick Hoagland 1913-2009
Edyth Louise Hoagland 1915-1998
Robert Judson Hoagland 1917-1975
Ruth Lucille Hoagland 1920-2012

Fred and Mabel were divorced on April 6, 1938, in Elgin, Illinois, when he was 57 years old. He then married Mary Wells.

Fred founded the Elgin Yellow Cab Company in Elgin and introduced the first cab meters in that part of the country. In 1946, he added the Terminal Cab Company to his business.

According to my family history notes, Fred was a “great dog lover all his life.” 

Fred attended the Baptist church.

Fred was a member of the Masons through the Elgin Lodge 117 AF & AM Masonic Lodge for 56 years. As a Master Mason, he was part of the Freemasonry appendant bodies called the Scottish Rite. He was honored by the Shrine Temple of Chicago with a life membership.

He died on February 2, 1961, in Elgin, Illinois, at the age of 80, and was buried there in the Bluff City Cemetery.

Excerpt from “ElginHistory.com – Elgin: Days Gone By”

Hoaglands

For more than a century, through four generations and changingmodes of transportation, the Hoaglands hauled freight and people around Elgin.

Zephania Hoagland’s aunt and uncle pioneered east of town in Hanover Township in 1837. Born in Steuben County, New York, Zeph also was an early arrival here, but didn’t settle down in Elgin until he had tried his luck as a’49er seeking gold in California. Zepbania became a teamster whose horse-drawn wagon carried goods around the little mill town that grew into an industrial city during his lifetime.

Zeph’s son, Sam C. Hoagland, was born in Elgin in 1855. He worked for his father and then purchased his own one-horse express wagon in 1876. The livery (a stable keeping horses and vehicles for hire) he bought four years later became one of Elgin=s largest. He also ran buses to and from the factories and supplied a big Tally-Ho wagon for picnics.

Sam Hoagland was a prudent businessman who maintained a card index on the cost of every animal and piece of equipment in his stable. His records indicated what each horse had eaten and earned. He also knew each one’s habits. When a drummer had rented a rig to go to Dundee, be complained on returning that the horse had balked. Sam charged him more than originally agreed because the rig had gone all the way to Algonquin. How did Sam know? Old Betsy never stalled except on the Algonquin bill.

Some customers desired well-dressed drivers as well as a carnage. In the Hoagland wardrooms were 15 outfits of fur coats, gloves, and caps. There were enough neatly brushed silk hats to costume a half-dozen minstrel shows.

By the time be retired in 1913, Sam Hoagland owned 26 horses, 11 full-sized closed carriages, three hearses, three fancy conveyances, opera hacks, pallbearer wagons, two-seat carriages, picnic wagons, and one-seat light driving rigs of all descriptions.

Sam’s son, Fred J. Hoagland, was born in Elgin in 1880 and joined the business after leaving high school. When the livery closed, he adapted to the motor age and started the Hoagland Taxicab Company with three Model-T Fords and two Reos, all black. Meters were introduced in 1919, and the original fare they tallied was 25 cents for the first mile and 10 cents for each succeeding two-fifths mile. After World War I, Fred began buying Yellow cabs manufactured in Chicago by John Hertz, and the firm’s name was changed to the Elgin Yellow Cab Company.

The early Yellows had tonneaus in which only the passenger compartment was enclosed. The driver was in the open air, exposed to rain and snow. After Hertz sold out to General Motors, Hoagland switched to Chevrolets.

Two-way radios, which reduced cost and response time, were introduced in 1946. At its operating peak in the 1950s, Elgin Yellow had about 60 full and part-time employees, including three full time dispatchers, two telephone operators, maintenance shop repairmen, and drivers. The firm had 18 cars on the streets in the summer and 25 in the winter. The cars averaged about 7,000 mile per month. Eight new cars were purchased each year. By the end of the decade, Elgin Yellow had switched from Chevrolets to Checkers made in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Fred’s son, Charles Hoagland, was born in Elgin in 1913. While still a boy, he learned the ropes by guiding new drivers around the city. He eventually became a partner in the business, withdrawing in 1964, but was driving his private livery until he reached the age of 70.

http://www.elginhistory.com/dgb/ch06.htm ElginHistory.com – Elgin: Days Gone By – E. C. Alft

World War I Draft Registration Cards 1917-1918

I was one of the grandchildren listed in Fred’s obit: